156 



KATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL INCREASE. 



A surplus of bees in a scarcity of lioney is insufficient to 

 bring out the swarm, neither will jolcnty of honey suffice, 

 without the bees and brood. The period of proper du.ra- 

 tion in which all these conditions exist will vary in differ- 

 ent stocks, and many times does not occur at all during 

 the season. 



PREPARATIONS FOR SWARMING. 



Qneen-cells are about one-third done when they receive 

 the eggs ; as these eggs hatch into larvae, others are be- 

 gun, and receive eggs at different periods for several days 



a ^tif0 d 



Fig. 66. — CLUSTER OF QUEEN-CELI-S, 



a, 3, (Z, Biz6 of the cell w/ien the egg U deposited ; ft, Finished cell ; c. Cell from 

 which a mature queen has issued • d, Cell in which the queen has been de- 

 stroyed by a rival and removed by t/ie workers ; e, Queen-ceU cut from the comb. 



later. The number of such cells seems to be goYferned 

 by the prosperity of the bees ; when the family is large, 

 and the yield of honey abundant, they may construct 

 twenty, at other times ' not ' more than two or three, al- 

 though several such cell's may remain empty. When 

 there is nothing precarious about • the supply of honey. 



